


i've been watching you

by michellejones_stacy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: AND ISN'T EXPLICTLY SHOWN, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Gwen Stacy is a good bro, Harley Keener and Gwen Stacy are Best Friends, HarleyGwen Brotp, Lesbian Michelle Jones, Meet-Cute, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Michelle Jones is a Masc Lesbian, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Peter and Harley are on their first date hehe, coffee shop AU, explanation is in end notes for those of you who are worried, for the purposes of this fic and all, honestly i feel like both her and Gwen could go either masc/femme but, kind of stalker-ish behavior BUT IT HAPPENED IN THE PAST, kind of?, mild sexual content in that Gwen is very much attracted to MJ, no beta we die like men, nothing explicitly/implicitly sexual happens but the attraction is there, there aren't any tags for Gwen why, they're all in college but it's not like explicitly referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:35:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29723595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michellejones_stacy/pseuds/michellejones_stacy
Summary: Michelle gave him a flat look. "She's probably looking at you, loser. Not every girl is a lesbian, you know."Ned rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath. "Look," he told her. "Maybe she's into girls, maybe not, I don't know. What Idoknow is that she keeps looking over here to stare at you.""She could be staring atyoufor all we know."Ned turned his head to his right, looking like he was studying something. Michelle clamped down hard on the urge to look, too. He hummed. "So why, when I looked over, did she keep shooting looks at you and didn't even notice me?"Michelle looked.And the barista's head immediately snapped back down to look at the counter she was wiping down. To the counter she'dbeenwiping down for more than the last few minutes.Huh.orMJ and Ned secretly crash Peter's date, to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble, which is plenty justified by the actions of Peter's last boyfriend. They couldn't have expected that Peter's date would have done (kind of) the same thing.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Gwen Stacy, Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Gwen Stacy
Comments: 14
Kudos: 112





	i've been watching you

**Author's Note:**

> first fic with gwenmj as the main pairing, yay!! i haven't had much time to mess around with MJ or Gwen's characterization, and i've always found MJ in particular to be a hard character to write correctly, so here's to hoping I did okay lmao
> 
> *warnings containing an expansion upon 'kind of stalker-ish behavior' in the end notes*
> 
> feedback is appreciated :)

It wasn't that Michelle particularly _cared_ about Peter's relationships or who he got involved with. Sure, they were friends—and it was weird to think that she had friends, but that was a thing for another time—and, yeah, she wanted to make sure that the guy Peter was meeting for a date wasn't a creep or anything, but that was it. She wasn't invested in making sure it went well—she just wanted to be around if it didn't.

Ned, on the other hand, was way more than invested.

"Why does Peter always get the cute ones?" he said with a pout. "I'm just as gay, _and_ just as adorable, so, like, I don't get it."

Michelle shook her head, leaning over the table. She put her hand on the top of Ned's head and turned it away from where it was craned to look at Peter and his date. "You're gonna make him know we're here, dumbass. Show some tact." They were lucky that the coffee shop was relatively full and making it harder—not impossible, but _harder—_ for Peter to spot them, especially if he wasn't looking.

"It's just not fair," Ned continued, like he hadn't even heard what Michelle had said, though she wasn't bothered by it as he was no longer trying to catch a peek of Peter's face to see if he was doing his happy smile or his polite smile. The trench coat, fedora, and sunglasses still kind of gave it away, but Peter looked to be too distracted by his date to notice. Thankfully. "What do you think it is, is it just his vibe, or something else?"

"Christ," Michelle muttered, crossing her arms and resting her elbows on the table, eyes briefly catching on the blonde barista behind the counter to her right before she shook herself and remembered why she was here. She wasn't going to answer Ned's question, but her was giving her The Look, the one that meant he would keep going on about it until she answered. She huffed out a breath. "I don't know why. Maybe it's his eyes."

Ned pounded his fist on the table, causing Michelle to roll her eyes. She almost let out another sigh, but she figured that'd be overdoing it. And, besides, all thoughts of doing anything flew from her mind once her eyes landed on the barista again. "I knew it. Those - those - those damn _Bambi eyes._ God should not have graced him with those, let me say that right here, right now."

"Yes, yes, they hold a power that no mortal should be allowed to have," Michelle said absently, waving him off like she'd heard this particular rant before as she found herself studying the girl behind the counter. (She had. She'd heard it so many times she practically had it memorized. It was branded in her brain at this point.) "We know."

"We _do_ know." Ned turned around again, going back to staring and drawing Michelle's eyes, somewhat reluctantly, back to him. "And now they're probably wooing his date into loving him forever, which is so not fair, I'm telling you." Michelle looked behind Ned, glad that she didn't have to turn around to monitor the status of Peter's date. Peter was gesturing excitedly and the guy sitting across from him watched in amusement, blonde hair falling over his forehead as he leaned forward in his chair and gave Peter all of his attention. It was cute, and Michelle could tell, even from this distance, that Peter wanted this to go well. "I mean, as long as he's not another Brent, I'm fine with him."

Michelle snorted, returning her eyes back to Ned, who'd turned back around to face her again. "Brentley was a dick," she said bluntly, her voice holding no remorse. She took a kind of satisfaction in saying Brent's full name, even if he was no longer around to hear her say it. "A dick who wouldn't leave Peter alone until we went to the cops." She felt something in her stomach tighten at the mention of it, her mind filling with thoughts of adults in uniforms milling around them and Peter's shaking form between her and Ned, terrified down to the bone when he'd gone home to a broken-into apartment and found a bracelet, with a note from Brent, on his pillow. Her eyes shifted to Ned, who looked irritated, like he'd smelled something bad. "And now we're just. Looking out for Peter. Making sure that this guy isn't another Brent."

Ned nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. And that's a good thing, 'cause we're his best friends. It's just." He paused, gnawing at his bottom lip, his eyes still hidden by his sunglasses—and Michelle really wanted to tell him to take them off, but Ned had taken extreme pleasure in showing off his outfit to her earlier that morning and she didn't want to take away from his "spy experience", even if she did think it was kind of dumb—and he spoke again after a few seconds of silence. "We talked about what we'd do if this went bad. You know? Like, we know the plan if this guy," He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of Peter and his date, "turns out to be a bad apple. But. What if it goes well? What if they, like, hit it off?" Ned finished, looking nervous.

Michelle blinked at him. She was the planner. The one who thought ahead and figured out how things would go. She'd spent most of her childhood subconciously analyzing body language and behavioral patterns, and then studying them religiously once she'd hit her teens, so she was pretty good at figuring out the most likely path of things. But she hadn't once considered that part of things.

She cursed to herself, shaking her head. She'd been so caught up in what to do if Peter's date turned out to be another Brent, that she hadn't once considered the possibility of him being a genuinely _nice guy._ And, from the looks of things, of the way Peter threw his head back in a laugh and his date watched him with a teasing grin on his face, he was. She cursed again.

"Well," she sighed. "I guess we'd. Do nothing. Just call him as soon as he leaves and be done with it."

Ned nodded his head, his eyes quickly flitting to the side before focusing back on her. His worried expression disappeared to be replaced with one of shit-eating amusement, which was never good—when Ned got that look on his face, things got almost as bad as they did when _Peter_ had it. It was terrible.

 _Terribly endearing,_ her brain whispered to her, and she snapped a, _Traitor,_ back in response.

"The barista keeps looking at you," he told her, voice low but happy, like he was the one getting looked at. Wait.

"What?" Her head turned in the direction of the counter fast enough that she caught the head of the blonde barista, the one her gaze had been landing on, turning away from her. It was too fast to be anything but casual, and Michelle noted that the baristas face was flushing a light pink. "Oh. That's."

Ned made a noise, and Michelle looked back at him. "Are you _kidding_ me?" he asked her, seeming genuinely surprised. "You're not, you're not going to do anything about it?"

Michelle frowned. "No?" The barista was cute, Michelle could admit that, but she was here for Peter, not herself, and. It didn't feel like the right time to be. Potentially starting something with someone. "Why would I?"

"You're literally–" He cut himself off, shaking his head. "She's cute, you're cute, she's obviously _somewhat_ interested in you. Go, I don't know, _talk_ to her. Make conversation. Be your friendly self."

Michelle gave him a flat look. "She's probably looking at you, loser. Not every girl is a lesbian, you know."

Ned rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath. "Look," he told her. "Maybe she's into girls, maybe not, I don't know. What I _do_ know is that she keeps looking over here to stare at you."

"She could be staring at _you_ for all we know."

Ned turned his head to his right, looking like he was studying something. Michelle clamped down _hard_ on the urge to look, too. He hummed. "So why, when I looked over, did she keep shooting looks at you and didn't even notice me?"

Michelle looked.

And the barista's head immediately snapped back down to look at the counter she was wiping down. To the counter she'd _been_ wiping down for more than the last few minutes.

Huh.

"I..." Michelle shook her head, looking back towards Ned. "We're here for Peter, Ned, not for me to." She waved a hand instead of giving a response, finding that she couldn't come up with any words to properly express what she wanted to say. Which was a first.

"Get a girlfriend?" Ned offered, not backing down at the slight of Michelle's glare. Which was, unfortunately, _not_ a first. All of the usual tactics that Michelle had used in the past to keep people from getting to close didn't seem to work on Ned and Peter. At first, she'd assumed it was because she was out of practice, but, no. Peter was just a stubborn individual who hated seeing people alone and by themselves, and Ned was. Michelle didn't really know why Ned had stuck around, honestly, but the fact of that matter was that he _had._ Stuck around, that was. "I mean, Peter and his date are obviously having fun." Michelle looked back at them to see that, yeah, they sure looked like they were having a nice time together, and she knew that it most likely wouldn't end in disaster, which was good. "And are probably gonna be here for a while. And I'm here," he added, "so you'd be good to go talk to her. If you wanted."

Michelle shook her head again. "I'm fine."

Ned watched her for a few seconds, the smile slowly slipping off his face. After a while, he nodded. "Sure, fine. Cool." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, sliding a ten-dollar bill across the table. "Can you go pick me up a coffee? And an apple fritter, please." Michelle glared at him, but he just blinked back at her, his face the picture of innocence. "What? I'm hungry."

Her glare strengthened, but she picked up the bill and pushed back from the table regardless of any feelings she was having about the situation because she knew she'd cave if Ned pulled out the Puppy Eyes. As much as he liked to curse Peter for having Eyes of Deception and Convincing and Manipulation, he was well aware that he had the same weapon at his disposal, even if it was to a lesser extent.

She grumbled to herself as she made her way around other chairs and customers to the counter. For some reason, she felt her heart pounding in her chest the closer she got, and it felt like her chest was about to explode once she was standing where she wanted to be.

The barista—Gwen, according to her name tag—looked at her with pink cheeks and a friendly grin that seemed to split her face in two and her blonde hair up in a ponytail. "Hi," she said. "What can I get for you?"

Michelle swallowed. Gwen was pretty, she'd known that from across the room, but there was something different about seeing her up close like this. Her hair seemed brighter and her smile more blinding, and her eyes more piercing. "Hi. I'd like a coffee, black." As much as Ned liked to proclaim he loved it, black coffee was not his thing, but Michelle had given up on trying to get him to confess that he secretly added a ton of milk and sugar when he thought no one was looking and was just letting him live in "secrecy" like he so obviously wanted to. "And an apple fritter."

"Of course."

She looked to her right as sublty as she could, trying to gain a better insight into what was happening with Peter and his date. (She felt a little bad about forgetting the guy's name, but she'd been preoccupied with other things when Peter had told her who he was going out with to worry about a _name_. She was pretty sure, though, that it started with an 'H'. Or maybe a 'J', she still wasn't sure. Ned probably knew.)

"Ok, so, not to be weird or anything, but I've been watching you," Gwen said, causing Michelle to look away from Peter and Date Guy in surprise. Gwen held up her hands, cup of coffee and apple fritter already out on the counter. "Not in a creepy way, or anything." She paused. _"Kind_ of in a creepy way, I guess." Michelle blinked silently as Gwen rested her palms on the counter between them and leaned forward. "That guy over there," she told Michelle quietly, jerking her head in the direction of Peter and his date, "is my friend." Michelle's mind was going to explode. "The blonde one. He suggested this spot because his date seemed a little too good to be true and he's. Not the most trusting guy. Because I work here, I could keep an eye on them and monitor the situation and stuff, you get the gist. And you've just been - _watching_ them, every since you got here, and I want to know what your deal is."

Michelle blinked again. "Is that why you kept looking at me?" she asks, wanting to know the answer despite having a good guess at what the ans–

Gwen flushed and averted her eyes. "I– Not entirely?" She huffed. "You're– I– You have big biceps." Gwen pressed her lips together, like she hadn't meant to say that and wanted to drop dead at that exact moment.

"Oh." Michelle looked down at her arm. She was wearing one of Ned's tighter t-shirts, one that he'd decided he didn't want anymore. She'd cut the sleeves off so it looked more like an undershirt, and she supposed she'd gotten so used to it that she hadn't remembered she was wearing it until now. She looked back up to see Gwen staring intently at her arm, so she just. Flexed. Just a little. Not to show off, of course not, it was for - research. Scientific purposes. Purely justifiable and not at all motivated by personal reasons.

A choked off noise left Gwen, sounding like it came from deep in her chest and forced its way up her throat, and Michelle felt her face start to burn.

"Okay," Gwen coughed, lifting a hand to her mouth. "We're not doing this." She took a deep breath, and when she looked back up at Michelle her back was straight and her shoulders were pulled back and her blue eyes were more grey than anything else, full of flint and steel and a protectiveness that seemed achingly familiar. "Why were you watching my friend?"

Michelle droped her elbows to the counter, moving her feet farther behind her, and leaned in. She could see the way Gwen inhaled, her chest rising and falling sharply before the pace evened back out. She turned her head slightly to find Peter, lips quirking in a quick, barely-there smile as she watched him kick his date under the table, and then looked back to Gwen. "He's my friend," she said simply. "Peter. The other guy." She stopped, watching as understanding crosses Gwen's face, and then steeled herself—she didn't want to reveal too much about Peter's personal business, but she _did_ feel like she should at least give a reason for why she was here. "He... had an issue. With a past boyfriend. Didn't want it to happen again." She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, cataloging the way Gwen's eyes briefly caught on her upper arm before returning to meet hers. "Can't really trust the internet, right?"

Gwen nodded. "Right, totally." Michelle didn't shift like she wanted to as Gwen eyed her, like she didn't trust what she'd said. "What's Peter's last name?"

"Parker."

"How did he and Harley–" _Harley,_ Michelle knew it started with an 'H', boom. "–meet?"

"Dating app. They matched or whatever and Harley insisted they meet here." They both fell silent after that, trapped in their own little bubble as the rest of the world, the rest of the coffee shop, moved on without them. "It's one of the reasons I came," she added out of nowhere. Gwen frowned. "He wanted to meet here," Michelle clarified. "And he wouldn't do it anywhere else. Seemed kinda sus."

The grin that grew on Gwen's face was both immediate and the most beautiful one Michelle had ever seen. "I'm Gwen."

"MJ."

They stared at each other in silence, Michelle content to stand and watch Gwen stare back at her for the rest of the afternoon.

"Did you want coffee?" Gwen blurted out of nowhere, straightening back up and losing the relaxed posture that Michelle hadn't even realized she'd taken on.

Well. Michelle straightened. "Yeah, I'll just take it and go."

"No." Gwen winced. "No," she repeated, her voice softer than it was before, along with her overall body posture and demeanor, "I meant, did you want to get a coffee sometime. With me. Just us."

"Oh." It wasn't what Michelle wanted to say, wasn't what she'd meant to let out of her mouth, so she hurried on, trying to move past her shock and mild disbelief as quick as she could. "Yeah. Sure. I'd like that."

The grin came back, and Michelle felt her own mouth start to turn up to mirror it, and–

"MJ!" came a scandalized voice, and Michelle turned to her right to see Peter staring at her with his mouth open and his cheeks red. "Wh– I told you not to come!"

Michelle gave a lazy shrug, eyes focused on Harley and the soft smile he sported as he watched Peter. "Ned made me."

Peter straigtened up, his eyes scanning the interior of the coffee shop and landing on Ned—who was trying to duck down, not realizing it made him stand out _even more—_ almost immediately. A shocked and strangled noise escaped him, along with a hissed, _"Ned!"_ that had Michelle letting out a huff of laughter.

As Peter stood up, apologizing to Harley before making his way towards Ned rather angrily and with a tinge of embarrassment, Michelle turned back to Gwen, who was still giving her the same grin. "He didn't make you." It wasn't a question.

Michelle smirked, backing away from the counter and in the direction of the door, where she knew Peter and Ned had left out of. "I'll come back tomorrow. For coffee."

Gwen's grin widened.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic contains mentions of a guy named Brent, who Peter used to date. Brent turned out to be a major creep- possessiveness, gaslighting, not allowing Peter to hang out with friends, etc.- and, after he and Peter had broken up, it's mentioned that he broke into Peter's apartment and left a "gift" for him. It's also mentioned that Peter got a restraining order against him, and is heavily implied that things were resolved after that. Brent does not explicitly show up or interact with any of the tagged characters, but he is briefly mentioned and some of the things he did are explained.
> 
> ~
> 
> come find me on [tumblr](https://michellejones-stacy.tumblr.com), where i occasionally manage to actually write things but am overall a gigantic disaster :D


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